The soap in her hand fell away as Charlotte kissed him. Water sloshed between them, wetting her chemise until it was transparent and dripping between her breasts, but she didn’t care. She didn’t even care when Colin pulled a little more and she was forced to rise up until she was half in the tub with him.
“Wouldn’t you want your lover to have a few less layers?” she finally asked when he let his mouth leave hers and instead trailed it to her neck, where he sucked ever so gently on the tender flesh he found there.
“Oh yes,” he purred in her ear. “Most definitely.”
She shoved away from him to rise. She knew what he saw. Her chemise clung to her breasts, revealing her taut nipples, her flat stomach. The heated humidity of the bath was causing her hair to fall from its updo. But he still looked at her like he would like to rip her clothes away and devour her whole.
She decided it was best not to make him wait. Shrugging out of the wet chemise, she let it fall to the ground around her ankles. She reached up to remove her bracelets, but he shook his head.
“Leave those on, my beautiful, delectable goddess,” he said as he reached for her.
She stepped over the edge of the tub. Although it was large, there wasn’t much room for the two of them together, and Colin didn’t make it much easier, forcing her to straddle his lap.
“You are a cad, sir,” she whispered as she settled over him. His cock rubbed between them, pressing to her belly as she rocked her hips back and forth against his.
“I think I’ll lick you clean,” he murmured back as he lifted her a little higher until her breasts were at the level of his mouth.
She let her head dip back as he captured one aching nipple. He sucked, tugging the swollen flesh between his teeth and swirling his hot, talented tongue around and around the bud until she was groaning with utter pleasure. Then he switched to the opposite nipple and repeated the action.
And all the while his wet fingers moved. He stroked along her sides, massaging her naked flesh until he cupped her gyrating hips. When he found the curve of her backside, he smiled against her flesh.
“I have always admired your beautiful body, Charlotte,” he whispered as he continued to lick and caress her breasts.
His fingers slipped down, parting the globes of flesh, granting him access to the little rosebud there. Charlotte gasped as he circled his wet finger around the opening.
“What are you doing?” she gasped, but she didn’t resist him. His mouth felt too good, his body felt too right, even that finger, which was pressing with greater intent and pressure, awoke nerves in her she never knew she had.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said softly.
She groaned as his finger slipped inside a fraction. A strange combination of pleasure-pain rocked her. Part of her wanted to pull away, but another part, a greater part wanted to feel more. To give something to him that she had never shared, or even thought to share, with another man.
As he eased deeper with that questing finger, he positioned her wet and ready slit over him. She moaned softly as he thrust upward, gliding into her sheath with no resistance.
It was as deliciously full feeling. His hard, heavy cock invading her in a way that was pure pleasure and comfort. And his thick finger in a way that was foreign and wicked. Meanwhile his mouth was so hot on her breasts, licking her nipples, stroking the valley between in a way that reminded her of the intimate kiss they had shared in the parlor.
Her senses were overloaded, overwhelmed and without warning a powerful orgasm rocked her. She arched against him, driving both cock and finger deeper as she clenched and tremored against both. He let out a low curse and thrust up into her release, pounding into her from below and swirling his finger in and out from behind.
She clenched and relaxed against the pressure as her first orgasm faded away. Now that the intense driving need for pleasure had been sated, she settled down against him, rolling her hips in time to his thrusts, really feeling the strange invasion of his body in hers.
“It’s so good,” she panted, amazed by how something that was surely wicked could make her feel so alive.
“I want everything to be good for you, Charlotte,” he panted from below her. “I want to make you tremble and scream and beg for more. I never want you to forget this.”
She rocked back, forward, always being filled on every stroke. Shutting her eyes, she drowned in sensation, and once again the intensity of pleasure, the impending anticipation of release, mounted deep within her loins, pounding in time with her heart.
“Come for me, Charlotte,” he whispered against her breast.
His permission set off the second explosion. This time she did scream, writhing and thrusting against the hardness of his body, milking his cock, almost desperate to draw out his pleasure with her own.
She opened her eyes and looked down at him. Colin’s wet hair was slicked away from his eyes, his neck strained with pleasure and the attempt to hold back the flood of his own release. He held her stare steady, watching every flicker on her face, drinking in each shudder and thrust of her body.
“Come for me, Colin,” she cried, mimicking his words.
His eyes widened and he bit back a groan before he pulled away from her body, leaving her bereft as he spent himself away from her. She frowned as he moaned and collapsed against the back of the tub. Although she knew exactly why he was so careful, she couldn’t help but feel cheated by not sharing that moment of his ultimate pleasure with him.
“That was magnificent,” he said after they had been quiet long enough that their panting breaths had calmed. He straightened up and shifted so that she had a little more room in the cooling bathwater. “Better than every fantasy.”
Charlotte smiled, strangely triumphant that she could give this man his fantasies when he had so much more experience than she had.
“And now it is your turn,” he said, giving her a wicked wink.
Charlotte felt a thrill low in her belly, but she ignored it as she pushed to her feet and climbed from the tub. Wrapping a large towel around herself, she shook her head.
“My only fantasy at this moment is food,” she said, and laughed.
His eyes lit up with desire and Charlotte cocked her head in wonder. He truly did only have one thing on his mind. Not that she wasn’t grateful that one thing involved her, but the fact that anything and everything she said could arouse him also served as a reminder that for him this was just a physical affair. Just sex.
For her own sake, she couldn’t want anything more. She already knew the consequences of such a thing.
“Food to eat, Colin,” she said with a laugh. “I think it is morning.”
He pushed to his feet and suddenly her appetite for breakfast faded. Water sluiced from his muscular frame, trickles trailing along his stomach, his legs. Even his cock, still semierect after their encounter, had rivulets dripping from it.
Turning her face away with a gasp, Charlotte grabbed for her robe. “I-I believe your things were placed in your usual room down the hall.”
Colin nodded and didn’t ask for further direction. He had always had a room of his own in the house. Her parents had accepted him as family almost from the moment he first appeared with Damien at thirteen. Whereas other guests were ensconced in the guest wing, Colin’s room was next to her brother’s, just across the hall from her own; and this nearness had caused so many long and sleepless nights for her as an infatuated girl.
Thank goodness she wouldn’t have to sleep alone now that she was an overheated woman.
“I will meet you in the breakfast room in an hour,” he said, interrupting her thought as he wrapped himself in his own robe.
“Colin,” Charlotte said, facing him again.
He crossed to her in a few long steps and wrapped his arms around her waist. Their bodies molded. Charlotte felt the heat of his touch, but there was something more. Something comforting about his embrace.
It made her want to push him away, but with great effort s
he remained steady.
“Do try not to make it utterly obvious what is happening,” Charlotte said, and blushed. “The servants will already guess and whisper about it, but if you are seen walking half naked from my chamber…”
He smiled before he placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I will be cautious. The breakfast room. One hour.”
She nodded as he slipped away from her and headed out the door. When he was gone, Charlotte let out the breath it felt like she had been holding since he first walked into the parlor the afternoon before.
She looked around. Her bed was a tangle of sheets, petals and clothing had been strewn along the floor, and bathwater dripped from the edge of the tub and pooled along the hardwood beneath.
No one who came into this room would have any doubt as to what had occurred here. Charlotte sighed as she attempted to ignore her embarrassment.
She did trust the servants. Word of her transgressions would never leave this house, and they would tidy up while she and Colin breakfasted. Upon her return, no doubt all evidence of the night she had shared with Colin would be gone.
Nonetheless, she would never again view this room in the same way. For the rest of her life, when she stepped into this chamber, she would think about how Colin had looked in her bed. She would recall their bodies tangling in the sheets, in the tub, on the floor, against the wall.
The servants could erase the evidence, but no one could take the memory. And as she rang for her maid to help her clean up and dress, she wasn’t certain if that was a blessing or a curse.
Chapter 5
“That was delicious,” Colin said as he set his napkin beside his plate.
Charlotte couldn’t help but smile. “I had a feeling you were enjoying it when you took the third serving.”
He arched an eyebrow and gave her the most wicked smile. “A little excess never hurt anyone. If one enjoys something, why not relish it? Over and over.”
She shrugged delicately, although she was painfully aware that they were no longer discussing food. Her nipples began to tingle as he stared at her with such heat.
“No particular reason, except that overindulgence sometimes leads to boredom.”
“Not if one does it right,” he said as he pushed back his chair and moved down the small table to offer Charlotte an arm.
She slowly got to her feet and took his elbow. A flash of powerful desire greeted her when she wrapped her fingers around his arm. He must have felt it, too, for his smile broadened.
“You see. Overindulgence hasn’t changed a thing between us yet.”
“But isn’t yet the sticking point to that argument?” she asked as they exited the dining room and walked through the halls slowly. To her surprise, Colin didn’t steer her immediately back to her chamber, but guided her toward the music room instead.
“Explain,” he pressed.
She cast a quick glance at him out of the corner of her eye. This was dangerous territory.
“Even the ladies of Society have heard of your reputation,” she explained. “They cluck their tongues, but secretly I think it thrills them to talk about men like you. Men who take what they want. Men who leave a string of well-pleasured women in their wake.”
Colin remained silent as he released her arm and motioned toward the beautiful grand piano that was the centerpiece of the brightly painted room. Even with the storm darkening the windows, the chamber gave a sense of summer and sunshine. It had always been one of her favorite places in this house.
“You wish for me to play right now?” Charlotte asked, blinking in surprise.
He nodded. “We can continue our conversation, but I would dearly love to hear you play. It was always a highlight of any visit to this estate as a boy.”
Charlotte hid a surprised smile as she settled herself onto the piano bench, adjusting her skirts carefully before she pressed her fingers to the keys and began to play.
“Pray continue,” Colin said as he sank into a nearby settee and closed his eyes.
“I suppose I mean that you indulged yourself, overindulged yourself, with many women before. And ultimately you bored of them and discarded them.”
He opened one eye, but only to wink at her. “A few did discard me.”
Charlotte found that difficult to believe, even in jest. What woman in her right mind would dispose of Colin if he still wanted to be in her bed? A foolish, silly woman, indeed.
“It still proves the point, whether it was you who ended the liaison or the woman. You indulged in sex until one of you bored of the other. Therefore, it is just like the meal we ate. If you eat ten or twenty servings of Mrs. Horace’s biscuits, one after the other, you will soon tire of them and not desire them any more.”
“Impossible.”
She ignored his impish response. “And if you make love to me a hundred times in the next three or four days, by the time the storm lessens, you will be dreadfully sick of me.”
“Even more impossible,” Colin said, and this time both eyes came open.
He continued to slouch negligently on the couch, but there was something different about his stare. More focused. Like this conversation was somehow very important to him.
Charlotte broke her stare from his and bit back a curse as her fingers faltered on the piano keys. Concentrating, she corrected herself and continued to play.
Slowly, Colin rose from the settee. She tried not to look but could hardly help herself. It was such a slow, sensual unfolding of long, lean limbs that it was impossible not to stare.
She hesitated at the keys, but he waved her off. “Continue playing. Please. It gives me great pleasure.”
Charlotte’s heart was pounding hard now, driving against her ribcage as she watched him come around the large piano. He dragged his long fingers along the length of the shiny wood as he drew nearer and nearer.
“Variety is always the way to fight boredom,” he said softly as he slipped behind her. “I may eat ten of Mrs. Horace’s biscuits, just not ten of the same flavor.”
“Then you will never settle with one woman…” Charlotte choked as she felt his warm fingers caress the sensitive skin at the back of her neck.
“I never said that. One can have intensely pleasurable variety with one woman,” he whispered, and suddenly his fingers glided lower. He found the little pearl buttons that fastened the back of her gown and slipped one free with delicious slowness.
Her fingers fell from the piano keys with a discordant tone when he dropped his lips to the small opening he had created in her gown.
“Play,” he whispered against her skin while he unfastened a second button.
Charlotte could scarcely breathe, let alone think about chords and notes, but somehow she placed her fingers onto the keys and began to move them. And as she moved her hands to play chords, he did the same, only his instrument was her body. With each note, he unfastened another button. With every beautiful turn of musical phrase, he touched her spine as he brought her closer and closer to nudity. To him.
She fought for concentration as he freed the final button and slowly eased her gown forward. The fabric was tangled around her elbows, which made it hard to play, but he soon remedied that by lifting first one hand, then the other, and tugging her sleeves away so that her dress bunched around her hips and her fingers were free to dance along the piano keys.
“I never knew you enjoyed my playing so much.” Charlotte panted as he began to nibble his way along her neck, following the slope of her shoulder until he found the thin chemise strap and caught it with his teeth.
“You have always looked so passionate when you played,” he murmured against her skin as he dragged the strap lower and slower, lapping at her flesh with each movement. His wet, hot tongue lit her body on fire. “I have long wondered if I could combine your passion for music with a much more wicked endeavor.”
Charlotte stopped playing and surged to her feet to face him. “Do you mean that you wish to make love to me while I play?”
He nod
ded, never taking his eyes from her even when he reached out and flicked aside the other strap of her chemise. The filmy fabric fell forward, revealing her breasts.
Charlotte considered her options. She could refuse his request, and part of her wanted to do just that. Music had always been a refuge for her, a true passion that had nothing to do with anyone but herself. Once she associated with Colin, it would be marked by him.
And yet, that was an equally tempting reason for her to say yes. How delicious would it be to recall Colin making love to her the next time she played a musicale for her prudish friends?
“That is two fantasies for you, Colin,” she finally whispered.
He smiled as he stepped forward and gently lifted her breasts together. As he bent to drag his lips from one hard nipple to the next, he whispered, “I will make it up to you later.”
She nodded, her chin jerking up and down. He released her sensitive breasts and slowly dragged the piano bench away. He stepped back to her and tilted her chin up, pressing his mouth to hers with possessive heat before he turned her back to the instrument.
“Play for me.”
“S-standing?” she stammered as he caught the bundles of fabric around her waist and began to shimmy them over her hips.
“Yes,” he whispered, his voice ragged when her gown and chemise fell around her ankles, leaving her utterly exposed except for her pretty slippers and finely stitched silk stockings.
Charlotte drew a long breath of calm and then leaned forward. Without the bench to sit upon, she had to bend over quite far. But, of course, that was part of Colin’s fantasy. To see her utterly naked and on display as she gave him a private concert.
And she intended to give him that fantasy in every way. She began to play a new song, this time not one she chose without thought. She picked a composition filled with building crescendos and intense passion.
He chuckled as she lifted her backside just a little, enough to give him better access visually and physically.
“You could kill a man, you know,” he groaned before he dropped to his knees behind her and began to gently lick her thighs.
A Red Hot Valentine's Day Page 22